retard

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See also: retârd

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English retarden, from Anglo-Norman or Latin, from Anglo-Norman retarder, from Latin retardāre (to retard), from re- + tardus (slow).

Pronunciation

Noun (delay sense), verb
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
  • (file)
  • (file)
Noun (offensive slang sense)

Noun

retard (plural retards)

  1. Retardation; delay.
    Synonyms: delay, hold-up, retardation
  2. (music) A slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando.
  3. (offensive, dated) A person with mental retardation.
    Synonyms: retarded, (offensive) tard, (disused medical term) imbecile, (legal term) mental deficient, (disused medical term) moron
    The retard in our class needs special help.
  4. (informal, offensive) A person or being who is extremely stupid or slow to learn.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool
    • 2007, Doug Green, No Wife No Kids No Plan, →ISBN:
      “That's 'cause your dog is a retard,” the large woman retorted. The pit bull must have sensed the insult because it got up on all fours and started barking at the woman. Not one to back down from an interspecies fight, the prison lady stood up []

Usage notes

Through the euphemism treadmill, the term retard (which originated as a then-neutral substitute for the terms that had previously designated those with disabilities, namely idiot, imbecile, and moron) has come to be offensive; see Wikipedia for more. In a 2003 survey by the BBC, retard was voted the most offensive word relating to disability, followed by spastic.[1]

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

retard (third-person singular simple present retards, present participle retarding, simple past and past participle retarded)

  1. (transitive) To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progressing.
    Synonyms: impede, hinder, hold up
    retard the march of an army
    retard the motion of a ship
  2. (transitive) To put off; to postpone.
    to retard the attacks of old age
    to retard a rupture between nations
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To be slow or dilatory to perform (something).
  4. (intransitive) To decelerate; to slow down.
    • 2019, Airbus A350 - Landing (Retard) (YouTube)[2], cockpit voice (actor):
      70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, retard, retard...
    • 2021 June 2, Michael Rhodes, “Tinsley reborn...”, in RAIL, number 932, pages 35–36:
      This application of hydraulics led Sir George Dowty to develop the wagon retarder system, which comprised small hydraulic rams mounted inside the rail. These rams could simply retard a wagon, or both retard and 'boost' or speed up a wagon by hydraulic pressure.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To stay back.
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: [], 2nd edition, London: [] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, [], →OCLC:
      Some years it [The River Nile] hath also retarded, and come far later than usually it was expected

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “BBC worst word vote”, in BBC - Ouch! Disability magazine[1], accessed 20 March 2007, archived from the original on 2007-03-20

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Deverbal from retardar.

Pronunciation

Noun

retard m (plural retards)

  1. delay
    Synonyms: demora, endarreriment
    El tren ha arribat amb dues hores de retard.(please add an English translation of this usage example)

Further reading

French

Etymology

Deverbal from retarder.

Pronunciation

Noun

retard m (plural retards)

  1. delay

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Norwegian Bokmål: retard
  • Turkish: rötar

Further reading

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French retard (delay), from the verb retarder (to retard, slow down).

Pronunciation

Noun

retard m (definite singular retarden, indefinite plural retarder, definite plural retardene)

  1. (horology) side in a clockwork to which the adjustment indicator must be set to make the clock go slower
    Synonyms: R, r

Antonyms

References

Anagrams

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French retard.

Adjective

retard m or f or n (indeclinable)

  1. delaying

Declension

Noun

retard n (uncountable)

  1. delay

Declension